J.T. Realmuto homered, tripled, singled and drove in two runs and Kyle Gibson tossed eight strong innings to lift the host Philadelphia Phillies past the Washington Nationals 7-2 on Friday.

Gibson threw six perfect innings before hitting Victor Robles with a pitch to open the seventh and then giving up a single to Luis Garcia.

Gibson (7-4) allowed one run on two hits, one walk and two hit batters while striking out four.

Nick Castellanos hit a two-run homer, Darick Hall added a solo home run and double and Rhys Hoskins and Kyle Schwarber also went deep for the Phillies, who earned their third win in a row and their eighth in nine games.

Garcia had two of the three hits amassed by the Nationals, who have lost three straight and five of six. Washington dropped to 9-40 against National League East opposition this season.

Nationals starter Josiah Gray (7-8) tossed four-plus innings and allowed five hits and six runs to go along with four strikeouts and three walks. Gray served up four homers.

The Phillies jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Hoskins hit a solo home run to left field, Castellanos blasted a two-run homer to left and Hall followed with a solo shot to right.

In the third, Realmuto lofted a two-run homer to left and the Phillies went ahead 6-0.

The final out of the top of the sixth came when Washington’s Ildemaro Vargas hit a sharp grounder to Alec Bohm at third. Bohm made a diving stop and threw out Vargas at first to keep Gibson perfect.

After Robles and Garcia reached base in the seventh, Luke Voit lined out to shortstop Bryson Stott, who doubled Robles off second. Yadiel Hernandez grounded out to end the inning.

Schwarber launched a solo homer in the seventh, his 34th long ball of the season, for a commanding seven-run lead.

The Nationals scored their first run when Vargas hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

In the ninth, Keibert Ruiz contributed an RBI groundout against Phillies reliever Brad Hand.

–Field Level Media